Lawrence Durrell English writer and poet Date of Birth: 27.02.1912 Country: Great Britain

Biography of Lawrence Durrell

Lawrence Durrell was an English writer and poet, as well as the older brother of the famous animal writer Gerald Durrell. He was born in India and received his education in both India and England. Durrell's first literary publication was a collection of poems titled "Whimsical Fragment" in 1932. The following year, under the pseudonym Gaffer Pislake, he released "Bromo Bombast," a literary parody of Bernard Shaw.

In 1935, Lawrence Durrell moved to the Greek island of Corfu with his family. That same year, his first novel, "Pied Piper of Lovers," was published by Cassell. A year later, he released the novel "Panic Spring," which contained a play on words that was untranslatable to Russian. In 1938, Durrell published his first "serious" novel, "The Black Book," in the Villa Seir Series, and later with the infamous Obelisk Press, with the help of his lifelong friend Henry Miller.

In 1939, Durrell began working as an English teacher in a Greek school under the patronage of the British Council. In 1941, just before the German occupation of Corfu, the Durrell family was separated. Lawrence and his wife fled to Crete and then to Cairo. During this time, Durrell ended his marriage with Nancy Myers and moved to Alexandria.

In 1947, Durrell married Eve Cohen, who became the inspiration for the main character in his novel "Justine," the first part of "The Alexandria Quartet." They had a daughter named Sappho-Jane in 1951.

In 1945, Durrell was released from an "Egyptian prison" and returned to Greece. He spent two years in Rhodes as the Director of Public Relations for the Dodecanese Islands. In 1947, he moved to Cordoba, Argentina, to take on the position of director at the British Institute. He later moved to Belgrade, Yugoslavia, where he worked as a press attaché for the British Embassy from 1949 to 1952.

In 1952, Durrell relocated to Cyprus to devote himself fully to literature. However, a year later, a war broke out between Greek Cypriots, who wanted reunification with Greece, Turkish Cypriots, who fought for independence, and the British, who sought to control the island. Durrell left teaching and worked as a public relations officer in Nicosia during this time. His book "Bitter Lemons," published in 1957, provides his perspective on the tragic events of those years.

While in Cyprus, Durrell started writing "Justine," the first book of "The Alexandria Quartet." He completed all four novels in France, where he moved in 1956. The Quartet was published between 1957 and 1961 and was immensely successful among both critics and readers. Over the next 35 years, Durrell wrote two more major prose cycles: "The Revolt of Aphrodite," which includes the novels "Tunc" and "Nunquam," and "The Avignon Quintet" from 1974 to 1985. However, none of these books achieved the same level of acclaim as "The Alexandria Quartet."

Durrell continued his involvement with poetry and published a collection of his best poems, "Collected Poems," in 1980. He was married twice more, first to Claude-Marie Vincendon until her death in 1967, and then to Ghislaine de Boysson from 1973 to 1979. Lawrence Durrell passed away on November 7, 1990, at his home in Sommieres, France. Despite his worldwide popularity and recognition as a literary talent, Lawrence Durrell is best known in Russia through the autobiographical books of his brother Gerald Durrell. He also worked as a screenwriter and appeared in several films and TV shows throughout his career.